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One reason people have so differing opinions on Cixi is that there are few instances where things are totally clear-cut,
人们对慈禧有如此不同的看法的一个原因是，这些事情完全不明确，
like, maybe she killed her rivals or maybe she didn't, maybe she was foolish to end the Guangxu emperor's reforms, but maybe her own reformist history gives her a pass.
也许她杀了她的对手，也许她没有，也许她愚蠢地结束了光绪皇帝的改革，但也许她自己的改革史给了她一个机会。
However, there's no ambiguity where the Boxer Rebellion is concerned.
然而，对于义和团运动来说，这是毫无疑问的。
No matter how you cut it, Cixi's response to the uprising was a disaster.
不管你怎么说，慈禧对起义的反应都是一场灾难。
Launched in 1899 by the epically named Righteous and Harmonious Fists, the Boxer Rebellion was an anti-Western, anti-Christian insurrection that ultimately killed a hundred thousand people.
1899年，义和拳发起了义和团运动。义和团运动是一场反西方、反基督教的运动，最终导致10万人死亡。
In the early stages, these deaths were Westerners and Chinese accused of picking up Western habits.
在早期，这些人是西方人，中国人被指责染上了西方的习惯。
But then the eight nation alliance of Austro-Hungary, the USA,the Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Russia, they launched a joint invasion of China to protect their citizens and everything went absolutely Nazi.
但后来，奥匈帝国、美国、英国、法国、意大利、德国、日本和俄罗斯这八个国家联盟，为了保护他们的公民，对中国发起了联合入侵，一切都变成了纳粹。
But rather than suppress the Boxers, Cixi came out on their side, declaring a war for survival against the eight nation alliance.
但慈禧并没有镇压义和团，而是站在他们一边，向八国联军宣战。
This led to the alliance attacking Beijing where the Boxers were laying siege to foreign embassies, causing Cixi and a court to flee.
这导致联军攻击北京，义和团包围外国大使馆，导致慈禧和宫廷出逃。
It was like the burning of the Summer Palace all over again.
这就像颐和园大火的重演。
But while the British had very much been at fault in 1860.
但是，尽管英国人在1860年犯了很大的错误。
In 1900, Cixi had to shoulder at least some of the blame.
1900年，慈禧至少要承担部分责任。
The Boxer Rebellion ended in 1901 with an alliance victory and mass execution of suspected rebels.
义和团运动于1901年结束，联军取得胜利，并对涉嫌叛乱者进行了大规模处决。
The treaty then forced on China was so humiliating it made even the ending to the Second Opium War looked like mere fascist play in comparison.
当时强加给中国的条约是如此具有羞辱性，以至于第二次鸦片战争的结束相比之下看起来就像纯粹的法西斯。
Crippled by a gigantic indemnity, Beijing was pushed toward bankruptcy.
由于巨额赔偿，中国政府被迫走向破产。
Foreign troops were stationed in the nation on a permanent basis.
外国军队永久驻扎在该国。
But one aspect of pre-rebellion life that would survive was Cixi herself.
但在反抗之前，慈禧太后的生活有一个方面得以延续。
In 1901, Cixi issued the Decree of Self-Reproach blaming herself for the war.
1901年，慈禧太后颁布“罪己诏”，将战争归咎于自己。
She then tried to make amends by ushering in something called the Late Qing Reforms, an overhaul of the state that went beyond even what the emperor had attempted.
随后，她试图通过引入所谓的晚清改革来弥补，这是一次对国家的彻底改革，甚至超过了皇帝曾经尝试过的。
Tax, policing, the judiciary, education were all completely upended.
税收、治安、司法、教育都被彻底颠覆了。
Foot binding was banned, ethnic marriages between Han and Manchus legalized, a degree of press freedom instituted.
缠足被禁止，汉族和满族之间的民族婚姻合法化，一定程度上的新闻自由得以实现。
By 1906, Cixi was even decreeing that China would become a Constitutional Monarchy, complete with elections and degree of male suffrage.
到1906年，慈禧甚至宣布中国将成为君主立宪制国家，包括选举和男性选举权。
Potentially, the greatest reform the nation had yet seen.
这可能是中国有史以来最伟大的改革。
But in the end, it wouldn't be Cixi's late life edicts that had the greatest impact on history but what she did on her final day.
但最终，对历史影响最大的并不是慈禧晚年的遗言，而是她在生命最后一天的所作所为。
In 1908, Cixi fell badly ill tensing that the end was near.
1908年，慈禧因生命即将结束而重病。
It seems she acted to preserve her legacy.
看来她是为了保护自己的遗产。
On November, 14th, the Guangxu emperor died in his luxurious prison.
11月14日，光绪皇帝死于他豪华的监狱。
A hundred days later, scientific analysis of his body would confirm that he was poisoned with arsenic.
100天后，对他身体的科学分析证实他是砷中毒。
Did Cixi bump him off ?
慈禧杀了他吗?
We can't say for sure, maybe it was a wider conspiracy in which her own illness was also the result of poisoning,
我们不能确定，也许这是一个更大的阴谋，她自己的病也是因中毒引起的，
but if any of the deaths in this video could be laid at her feet,it's probably this one.
但如果视频里的死者中有谁是死在她脚边的，那很可能就是这一个。
Surely, after the heirless emperor's death, Cixi chose the man who would succeed him or rather the boy Prince Chun's two-year-old son Puyi, famous today as the last emperor.
毫无疑问，在这位无皇嗣的皇帝死后，慈禧选择了他的继任者，或者更确切地说，是醇亲王两岁的儿子溥仪，也就是今天著名的末代皇帝。
Mere hours later, Cixi herself died on November 15th, 1908. She was 72.
仅仅几小时后，慈禧本人也于1908年11月15日去世。 享年72岁。
At the moment she passed, Cixi was the grand matriarch of an empire that had lasted in various forms for thousands of years , an empire that was in need of reform, certainly but making steps in the right direction.
在慈禧去世的那一刻，她是一个以各种形式延续了数千年帝国的女统治者，一个需要改革的帝国，当然是在朝着正确的方向前进。
Within three years ,though all of that would have been swept away.
在三年内，尽管所有这些都将被冲刷掉。
In 1911, Puyi would be deposed in a revolution leading China to collapse into the anarchy of the warlord era.
1911年，溥仪在一场革命中被废黜，导致中国陷入军阀时代的无政府状态。
A process that would eventually lead to the rise of two competing visions for the future that of Chiang Kai-Shek and that of Mao Zedong.
这一过程最终导致了两种相互竞争的未来愿景的兴起，即蒋介石和毛泽东。
But by then Cixi would have been lost to history.
但那时慈禧已经被历史遗忘了。
Her tomb destroyed in 1927, a body desecrated and then thrown away like so much trash.
她的坟墓在1927年被毁，尸体被亵渎然后像垃圾一样被丢弃。
In the decades, since the empress dowager's reputation has been on a wild ride from a figure of revulsion.
在过去的几十年里，慈禧太后的名声一直处于疯狂的状态，一个令人厌恶的人物。
She came to be seen as a complex failure.
她逐渐被视为一个复杂的失败者。
And more recently as a strong admirable woman who did her best to lead her country through a dark time.
最近，她又成为了一名令人钦佩的坚强女性，竭尽全力领导她的国家度过了一段黑暗时期。
Today,we're finally in a position to appreciate the nuances of her rule to see clearly, both the good and the bad.
今天，我们终于能够欣赏到她的规则的细微差别，清楚地看到它的好处和坏处。
Without a doubt, she was a remarkable figure a woman who rose to power in a man's world and then proceeded to reform imperial China in ways, no man had ever dreamed.
毫无疑问，她是一个了不起的人物，一个在男人的世界里获得权力的女人，然后继续以男人做梦都想不到的方式改革封建中国。
Yet, we also have to accept that those reforms ultimately failed that she stopped the last necessary steps under the Guangxu emperor.
然而，我们也必须承认，这些改革最终失败了，她阻止了光绪皇帝的最后必要步骤。
Then left behind a system that wouldn't survive another half decade.
然后留下了一个无法再存活五年的系统。
Was she brilliant, venal, inspirational, destructive ?
她是才华横溢，唯利是图，鼓舞人心，还是具有破坏性的?
The truth is that she was maybe all these things and many more.
事实是，她可能是所有这些，甚至更多。
A woman who shaped the destiny of a billion people in some areas, brilliantly, in others, such as the Boxer Rebellion, catastrophically.
她在一些领域塑造了十亿人的命运，在另一些领域，比如义和团运动，却带来了灾难性的后果。
What she never was though was inconsequential.
她从来都不是什么无足轻重的人。
For both good and ill, Cixi shaped China for nearly half a century and that alone ensures that she'll never be forgotten.
无论是好是坏，慈禧塑造了将近半个世纪的中国，这确保了她永远不会被遗忘。
So I really hope you found today's video interesting.
所以我真的希望你们觉得今天的视频有趣。
If you did please do, hit that thumbs up button below.
如果你喜欢，请点击下面的大拇指按钮。
Don't forget to subscribe, also as I mentioned, wara graphics, new channel link below.
不要忘记订阅下面的新频道链接。
Thanks for watching!
感谢收看!
